Motorbike taxis ask Chalerm for help

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Motorbike taxis ask Chalerm for help

Published: 3/02/2012 at 04:55 PM
Online news: Crimes

Motorcycle taxi drivers on Friday sought help from Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung, seeking protection from extortion by criminal gangs.

Chalerm Changthongmadan, chairman of the Hired Motorcycle Taxi Drivers Association (AMTD), led about 300 association members operating in Bangkok and its vicinity to submit a letter of request to Mr Chalerm.

The letter contained three proposals. It called on police to urgently crack down on extortion gangs and illegal motorcycle taxi queues; for the Land Transport Department to be the main agency in regulating the business; and to take over issuing licences for motorcycle taxi drivers in the capital from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).

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johninbkk
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Discussion 10 : 03/02/2012 at 08:05 PM10
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bikeme D1 - It's twice as hard to get a permit if you need twice as many permits. Those who don't have both are 'unlicensed', and therefore subject to pay 'fees' to police [extortion gangs].
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swlh

Discussion 9 : 03/02/2012 at 07:58 PM9
Who's gonna help the tourists who get ripped off
from iPhone application.
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smiles999
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Discussion 8 : 03/02/2012 at 07:32 PM8
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Hi, the ball came into Chalerm's court, and he promptly tossed it over to the Police Chief !! Chalerm knows well what the consequences were in the past when Thaksin went against the influential persons. Surely the police will get tough...the outcome we do not know, but it will be unpleasant.
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drsmith
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Discussion 7 : 03/02/2012 at 07:27 PM7
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If the police are never involved in anything, why are there so many rich policemen in Thailand? Is their police salary really that high?
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mrsheen
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Discussion 6 : 03/02/2012 at 06:56 PM6
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Going from one kind of extorsionists to another one???
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englishbob
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Discussion 5 : 03/02/2012 at 06:53 PM5
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It's hard to feel sympathy for the motorcycle taxi drivers... The biggest gang of thugs, junkies and alcoholic layabouts in the country.
Dangerous, aggressive driving while working, sipping hard liquor and drugs while waiting to work... Won't someone PLEASE take care of these poor guys?
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bkk-farang
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Discussion 4 : 03/02/2012 at 06:09 PM4
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In general I don’t have the impression that motorcycle taxi drivers are shy and if someone tries to cheat them they can easily assemble a dangerous pack of fellow drivers. If these drivers seek protection from other gangs then I think these other gangs must be relative powerful and likely be connected to the infamous influential people. And we all know what the police does or does not do with influential people.
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bkposter
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Discussion 3 : 03/02/2012 at 05:58 PM3
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Strang these criminal gangs all wear green and brown uniforms
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rontorr
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Discussion 2 : 03/02/2012 at 05:32 PM2
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denied allegations that police were involved

this is partially true, the police dept, is not involved,but individual officers are the money collectors and enforcers for the gangstas
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bikeme
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Discussion 1 : 03/02/2012 at 05:28 PM1
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Why does having two permits lead to a flood of unlicensed motorcycle taxis. Requiring two permits should make it harder ... but then since police don't enforce laws and only want tea money ...

Requiring a BMA permit is not out of line, otherwise every motorcycle taxi from the countryside could take their machine to Bangkok to make the "big" money. It is not any different than requiring a permit to operate at the airport.

I do agree with cracking down on gangs, extortion and unlicensed operators. But again, as I said earlier ... police don't seem to care too much about enforcing laws.
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Motorbike taxis ask Chalerm for help | Bangkok Post: news